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Bishops' criticisms: Prophetic or pointless? - Faith & Reason
"Victims of the clergy sexual abuse crisis are watching with anger and dismay as bishops from Phoenix to Rome mouth off at each other -- invading each others ecclesiastical turf -- on who is in or out of line on hot potato political issues.
But during the most horrific days of the abuse scandal, bishops held fire on each other, with no public chastising of bishops or, most notably, of Cardinal Bernard Law, whose mismanagement as Archbishop of Boston allowed hundreds of sexual abusers to go undetected or unpunished for decades.
In 2002, when the scandal erupted, bishops said they were offering fraternal corrections in private but had no right to publicly point out each other's errors or interfere across diocesan boundaries. Bishops answer to God and the pope, not each other.
"It's galling, really galling, that they are so eager to speak out now on things they have no influence at all, when they kept silent when they could have done some real good," says David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests."
"Victims of the clergy sexual abuse crisis are watching with anger and dismay as bishops from Phoenix to Rome mouth off at each other -- invading each others ecclesiastical turf -- on who is in or out of line on hot potato political issues.
But during the most horrific days of the abuse scandal, bishops held fire on each other, with no public chastising of bishops or, most notably, of Cardinal Bernard Law, whose mismanagement as Archbishop of Boston allowed hundreds of sexual abusers to go undetected or unpunished for decades.
In 2002, when the scandal erupted, bishops said they were offering fraternal corrections in private but had no right to publicly point out each other's errors or interfere across diocesan boundaries. Bishops answer to God and the pope, not each other.
"It's galling, really galling, that they are so eager to speak out now on things they have no influence at all, when they kept silent when they could have done some real good," says David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests."